Altering my way back to start

A cotton jersey top.  It's a comfortable fit scoop neck tee with bell sleeves.

Now this could have been an easy and quick project but, no, I had to go about it in a most time consuming way.  The story starts with KwikSew 3295 (now apparently out of print).  Last year I tried the top in a woven making the bust area smaller and experimenting with a center back seam for shaping.  After a few muslins I decided a woven top was not for me, at least not in the cotton lawn I was considering, so the project got put aside in spite of the several days I had invested in the process.

Then one day months later I thought of the sleeves and how I liked the bell shape.  I wondered how those would work in a knit.  I pulled out the KwikSew pattern I had already altered to fit and decided to make it work for a knit.  I removed the darts and took out a bit of width in the center front and center back.  There were a few fiddly alterations at the shoulder and front armscye that I don't remember the details of but they took more time.

I traced a fresh pattern of what I had created through my alterations and stepped back to look.  Omigosh, it looked so familiar, what was it?  I thought for a while and then remembered one of my favorite patterns ever that I have made nearly a dozen times, Onion 5025 (also appears to be no longer available).

Placing my overly altered KwikSew pattern on top of the Onion pattern I saw they were nearly identical!  All that time I has spent altering and muslining the KwikSew, more days in the sewing room that I care to admit, and I just end up right where I should have started, sigh.  Moral of the story:  productive time in the sewing room does not include reinventing the wheel over and over.

The top got sewn in spite of my foolish activities with the pattern and I like the result.  I wanted to have a somewhat less than plain binding at the neckline and sleeve hem so I placed a folded strip of the fabric on the inside under the raw edge and sewed with the cover stitch machine from the front.  This was completed back in the fall and the funny thing is after all that I went through to create the top I have yet to wear it.

The fabric, unlike the patterns, is still available.   Hart's Fabrics  Plum Jersey  Soft and light but far from sheer, a lovely tee shirt fabric.

Onion patterns

A little pattern shopping.  I really like Onion patterns because they are simple to make and are well drafted.  Like Burda Style, they are printed without seam allowances which means I can see the actual shape and size of the pattern piece and can make alterations if I want without having to fiddle with seam allowances.

The asymmetric buttoning caught my eye.  It wouldn't be difficult to change the front closure of any jacket to have this style but these days I don't have the drive these days to do extra things in my sewing.  Just let me cut it out and sew!  This is drafted for a B or C cup so I will alter that for my A and hopefully that will be good enough.  I'm thinking fleece or wool.  Summer is short here in the high mountains which is why I am already thinking warm things.

An anorak with an easy way to sew a zipper and attach the hood.  Once upon a time I had a thick wool anorak very much like this one.  It was a gift from my roommate at a school in Norway and it suited the climate there very well.  I'm not sure if I would sew this in wool though.  There are so many new warm synthetics available now.  Maybe just a windbreaker material as the wind does blow here in the spring and fall.

This one I ordered mostly to see how Onion did the collar and neckline.  It has the princess seam to the asmscye which I tend to like better than the princess seam to the shoulder so having this pattern will give me the option of using either type princess with other neck and collar treatments.

My new sewing room is almost set up just as I want it.  A huge dresser was in there that came with the house and it took up way too much room.  I sold it through a consignment shop and now the big space taker is out!  Maybe I'll take some photos soon.  If I'm not outside enjoying the sunshine and mountains.

Onion 1038

Another case of pattern seduction. I love the look of the style but this coat does not look good on me. Too bad because those princess seams have such a pleasing shape visually. Just not on my body so this pattern will not go past the muslin stage. On to the next project, New Look 6704.

Onion 1038 Muslin